Despite its largely non-religious population, Germans are big fans of Easter. Probably because it marks the beginning of spring, and Germans love being outside gardening, hiking, grilling, rollerblading, biking, or just strolling. Everything shuts down the Friday before Easter and the Monday after, and in the week or two preceding Easter, everyone wishes one another a happy "Osterfest". I don't recall cashiers regularly wishing me a happy Easter in the States, but I've gotten it from every cashier I've encountered here in the last week.
One of my favorite German Easter traditions is this:
About a month before Easter, Germans hang little Easter eggs all over their trees and shrubbery. It always makes me excited when I see them start to pop up. It's one of Germany's surefire first signs of spring.
And goodness knows we're all ready for it.
JEM
What a beautiful picture of daffodils. I miss the MN green. It just never gets that color here in UT.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great tradition, very springy. It looks like it's getting warm down there.
ReplyDeletePeople still rollerblade?
ReplyDeleteThose trees all look so cute! What great traditions Germans have... We were thinking about doing something like that this year, but we never got around to it.
ReplyDeleteYes! The sun is out! I bet you're loving the weather and being able to get out with baby J. Happy Easter Michaelsons.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful place!
ReplyDeleteHappy Belated Easter!!! I would agree that the Germans clearly have an Easter obsession!!! My husband and I parked the car in front of an auto mechanics shop last week (thankfully there were no problems with the car, it was just the only open space in the neighborhood) and the entire front of the mechanics shop was covered in Easter decor. I turned to my husband and said, "NEVER, would you see this in America!" It was great!!
ReplyDeleteI love those eggs! And I miss you guys!
ReplyDeleteI need some of that spring stuff, stat.
ReplyDeleteYay! Happy Easter. So glad it's finally turning Spring your way. I love the eggs on the trees, too. We had a few trees like that on our street this year.
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